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A HERITAGE STRATEGY for STROUD DISTRICT Valuing Our Historic Environment and Assets

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A HERITAGE STRATEGY for STROUD DISTRICT Valuing Our Historic Environment and Assets A HERITAGE STRATEGY FOR STROUD DISTRICT Valuing our historic environment and assets Supplementary Planning Advice | Adopted February 2018 Berkeley castle *HERITAGE Valuing our historic [1] “All inherited resources, which people value for reasons environment and assets beyond mere utility.” Conservation Principles, English Heritage, 2008 Stroud District Council recognises the contribution that our area’s heritage makes to the character of Stroud [2] “Heritage is a broad concept District, its economic vitality and the quality of life of and includes the natural as well people who live and work here. Our heritage contributes as the cultural environment. to our local identity and sense of community, while our It encompasses landscapes, historic environment is part of the district’s visual and historic places, sites and built environments, as well as bio- cultural appeal, helping to attract people and investment diversity, collections, past and to our area. continuing cultural practices, knowledge and living The Council believes it is essential that our heritage is experiences. protected, promoted and developed. For these reasons, It records and expresses the long Stroud District Council is proud to present a heritage processes of historic development, forming the strategy. essence of diverse national, regional, indigenous and local identities and is an integral part of modern life. It is a social dynamic reference point and positive instrument for growth and change. The particular heritage and collective memory of each locality or community is irreplaceable and an important foundation for development, both now and into the future.” International Cultural Tourism Charter, ICOMOS, 2002. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1. Stroud High Street in the 1980s 2. The 19th century railway sliced through earlier Bourne Mill at Brimscombe 3. Owlpen Manor 4. Timber framed barn, Frampton-on-Severn 5. ‘Interwoven’ a mural by local artist Tracy Spiers at Ebley Wharf on the restored Stroudwater Canal 6. The Purton Hulks 7. Solar panels on a traditional stone roof 8. Berkeley Castle 9. Bisley conservation area visit www.stroud.gov.uk/heritage A HERITAGE STRATEGY FOR STROUD DISTRICT Page | 1 CONTENTS Why a Heritage Strategy? 3 Scope 3 What are our big issues? 4 Vision, objectives and priorities 6 1. UNDERSTANDING our heritage and its significance 8 Understanding: strategy priorities 9 Why do we need to know? 9 What have we got here? 9 The story of our place 15 2. CAPITALISING: valuing our historic environment and assets 17 Capitalising: strategy priorities 17 Economic benefits 18 Wellbeing benefits 22 Building a positive legacy for the future 23 3. POSITIVE MANAGEMENT: 25 Positive management: strategy priorities 25 Planning and the historic environment 26 Heritage at risk 27 Conservation Areas 28 Non-designated heritage assets of local significance 29 RAISING OUR HERITAGE UP THE AGENDA: 31 4. A positive driving force for Stroud District Strategy priorities 31 The Council’s wider corporate priorities 32 Implementation and Monitoring 34 Contacts and information sources 35 Wallbridge in Stroud, circa 1785. © Stroud District (Cowle) Museum Trustees, the Museum in the Park, Stroud. The Museum collection includes several paintings of our area, which shine a fascinating light on how the town and surrounds have evolved and grown over time. A HERITAGE STRATEGY FOR STROUD DISTRICT Page | 2 WHY A HERITAGE STRATEGY? Wherever we live, our built, natural and Stroud District has a genuinely exceptional cultural heritage is fundamental to our local collection of assets and a very high quality identity, and often to our quality of life. environment. So this strategy is really about making sure that we value them, that we In Stroud District, our heritage is all around don’t take this resource for granted, and that us. In fact, it is so much a part of the we all manage the District’s heritage assets scenery, such a backdrop to our lives, that in such a way that we hand on a positive perhaps we don’t perceive its value or legacy for the future. recognise its impact as much as visitors do. Scope Not only do we have a great heritage asset within targeted action, including through the identification of Stroud District, but we are lucky to have an interested opportunities for partnership working, funding, and informed community, including some highly training, education and capacity-building – for our active, knowledgeable and committed individuals and communities, as well as for those operating within organisations. Stroud District Council. Central to this Strategy is a desire to maximise the As Supplementary Planning Advice, this Strategy does contribution that the historic environment makes to have an essential focus on the role of the planning the diverse character of Stroud District, its economic system in the conservation and management of our wellbeing and the quality of life of its communities. area’s heritage. But the Vision and the priorities and main themes that run through this Strategy are The purpose of the Heritage Strategy is to set applicable to our District’s heritage in its widest sense. informed priorities for the conservation, management and monitoring of the District’s heritage assets, Whilst the built historic environment is an important including the effective and efficient discharge of the and particularly visible aspect of the District’s heritage, Council’s statutory duties and obligations. “heritage” must be seen in much broader terms, encompassing the natural environment, culture, skills Although this Strategy [has been] adopted by the and tradition, nostalgia and remembered histories, Council as Supplementary Planning Advice, which will artefacts, knowledge and interpretation. All of these be used to support and implement the District’s things contribute to our sense of local identity and adopted Local Plan, it does not set out detailed policy distinctiveness, our economic vitality and our quality or guidance to supplement what is already of life. established in the Local Plan. Instead, the Strategy seeks to highlight the value and significance of our The District Council provides many services, performs District’s heritage, the benefits of positive diverse duties and has a variety of powers that management, and how this ties in with the Council’s directly and indirectly relate to our area’s heritage. To wider corporate priorities. get the most out of this Strategy, to improve the conservation and management of Stroud District’s The supporting Heritage Action Plan, consisting of a heritage, the Council needs to embed this awareness programme of works relating to the objectives and into its broad range of activities and to actively priorities identified in this Strategy, will enable better embrace opportunities. and more efficient performance and more effectively A HERITAGE STRATEGY FOR STROUD DISTRICT Page | 3 What are our big issues? Many of the issues facing our historic environment Some of this rests with the District Council, and heritage assets come down to a common core: particularly in the execution of its role and it is essential that there is proper understanding of responsibilities as local planning authority. But what we have and why it is significant. there is also a need for wider and better understanding amongst all individuals and Without this, we will lose things; without this, organisations involved in managing, developing properly informed and balanced decision-making and conserving our historic environment and cannot take place; our distinctiveness gets assets. watered down; and opportunities to bid for funds or effectively target investment may be missed. Valuing our historic environment: an underappreciated asset? Both within and outside the Council, there are highly informed, committed individuals, who are passionate about our area’s history and environment, and work hard to champion and protect our heritage. But there is also a widespread deficit of understanding about what we have got here, perhaps even a bit of complacency. A central goal for this Strategy is to turn this around: to raise our exceptional heritage up the agenda and to encourage people to view the historic environment as a true asset, which not only has intrinsic cultural and aesthetic value, but which can also bring economic, social and environmental benefits to our area. Our heritage “at risk” A small proportion of Stroud District’s designated heritage assets have been formally identified as “at risk” through Historic England’s monitoring programme, Heritage at Risk (HAR). But there are gaps in our knowledge and understanding about the condition and vulnerability of our area’s wider historic environment, and indeed our undesignated © Chris Allen (Creative Commons licensing cc-by-sa/2.0) and cultural heritage assets. Stanley Mills... Both the main mill building (Grade I listed) and the Stanley Mills conservation area around it are on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register (HAR), 2018. A HERITAGE STRATEGY FOR STROUD DISTRICT Page | 4 Our local distinctiveness Over the past few decades, economic pressures, ‘anywhere’ standard design and, to some extent, changes in building regulations and energy efficiency requirements have begun to water down our area’s visual distinctiveness. This is happening right across the District, including in conservation areas and where listed buildings are altered or extended. This is an accelerating and self-perpetuating problem: the more frequently we see development that is non- contextual or non-distinctive, the more we see this as normal. It enters the local vocabulary, it sets a precedent, and it muddies the waters, meaning that This could be anywhere... we are less able to pick out what really is locally This little estate is not in Stroud District. But it looks just like dozens of housing developments built in the past two decades, all over Stroud distinctive or significant about a place. District, and all over England. Although the houses are individually quite pleasing and they are vaguely traditional in appearance, they are not Promoting high quality, distinctive design that is ‘of really locally distinctive.
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